November 10, 2018

20,000 vinyl LPs 155: Ennio Morricone ~ Chi Mai & Sandra Sakata

Ennio Morricone ~ Chi Mai from Le Professionnel
vinyl LP front cover
front cover photo by Mme Brandicourt
photo of LP cover by Styrous®

Ennio Morricone was born on November 10, 1928; he is an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, former trumpet player and has written dozens of film scores for movies (link below).    

I used the main theme, Chi Mai (link below) written by Morricone for the film, Le Professionnel, early on in one of the fashion shows I staged for the Art-To-Wear boutique, Obiko. The owner, Sandra Sakata, fell in loved with the song and asked me to use it in future shows (link below); it sort of became her theme song.
      
      
Ennio Morricone ~ Chi Mai from Le Professionnel
vinyl LP back cover
photo by Styrous®


Chi Mai is a beautiful, romantic instrumental with lush strings, a quiet piano and languid, mellow percussion. The strings open the work with sharp but gentle and hesitant staccato notes which are used throughout the song while other strings create a quiet drone backing. The percussion stops and the staccato and drone strings quietly end the piece. It's really beautiful (link below).  

It was written in 1971 and used in the film, Maddalena, then again in Le Professionnel in 1981. It was also used in the television series An Englishman's Castle and The Life and Times of David Lloyd George. Because of its appearance on the latter television programme, Chi Mai reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1981.    

In 1981, the British instrumental rock group the Shadows released a guitar version of the composition. Other cover versions were released by Amii Stewart, German singer Milva, and Escala. In 1988 the British singer Marti Webb included a vocal version of the song, with lyrics by Don Black, under the title of 'He's Not You' on her album 'Marti Webb Sings Small Screen Themes'.               


Ennio Morricone ~ Chi Mai from Le Professionnel
vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®


"Chi Mai" is also the name of the online community about Ennio Morricone (link below). The site offers a repository of information and a free quarterly on-line magazine called 'Maestro' about Morricone's discography, concerts and movies. The on-line magazine contains reviews, in-depth articles, discoveries and free comments.      



Ennio Morricone ~ Chi Mai from Le Professionnel
vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Chi Mai     5:05
A2 - Canzonne Della Nostalgia - 3:10
A3 - Come Maddalena - 3:30
A4 - Poesia Di Una Donna - 3:13
A5 - Veruschka - 2:55
A6 - Ninna Nanna In Blu - 2:37
A7 - Melodia "Liberty" - 4:25

Side 1:

B1 - Ouverture Du Matin - 5:15
B2 - Les Deux Saisons De La Vie - 18:21

Companies, etc.

    Distributed By – WEA Filipacchi Music
    Printed By – Glory (2)
    Distributed By – WEA Filipacchi Music
    Phonographic Copyright (p) – Général Music France

Credits:

    Photography By – Mme Brandicourt
    Written-By – Ennio Morricone

Notes:

Made and printed in France.
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Other (Distribution Code): WE 351
    Rights Society: SACEM SDRM SACD SGDL

Ennio Morricone ~ Chi Mai  
Label: Général Music France ‎– 803.024
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: France
Released: 1981
Genre: Electronic, Classical
Style: Modern Classical, Contemporary

       

Viewfinder links:      
        
Ennio Morricone    
Sandra Sakata    
Obiko fashion show history        
    
Net links:      
        
Chi Mai ~ Ennio Morricone Online Community     
Discography       
       YouTube links:      
        
Chi Mai (conducted by Ennio Morricone)       
Milva ~ Chi Mai   
The Shadows ~ Chi Mai         
Amii Stewart ~ Chi Mai          

 
      
       
Styrous® ~ Saturday, November 10, 2018     

 








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